News

Comment: Leading article: Policing the gardai

It is becoming depressingly clear that neither Michael McDowell, the minister for justice, nor Noel Conroy, the garda commissioner, is prepared to face up to the devastating conclusions of Justice Frederick Morris on the state of the Garda Siochana. Morris, in his second report on the conduct of the gardai in Donegal which was published earlier this month, revealed severe deficiencies in the force. Taken together with his first report, published last summer, they paint a picture of a police force that has lost its way. Public confidence in the garda has been damaged, and that will not be repaired by inadequate legislation that fails to address the central problems identified by Morris.

What trust remains will be further eroded if fresh scandals emerge. The family of a 14-year-old who died three years ago after being held overnight in a garda station is suing the state for his wrongful death.